IEP Chandigarh, September 21
In order to maintain the polio-free status of Punjab, the Punjab Health Department under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, in its three-day Pulse Polio drive has immunised 14,24,142 children under the Sub National Immunisation Day (SNID) drive, revealed Health and Family Welfare Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra.
This door to door drive was carried out in 12 districts of Punjab to ensure that every child less than five years of age was administered polio drops, said Chetan Singh Jauramajra while adding that Health department teams paid special attention to vulnerable areas such as brick kilns, railway stations, bus terminals, construction sites and slums.
Appreciating the tireless efforts of the volunteers, the Health and Family Welfare Minister stated that the state health department had deployed 11,865 polio vaccination teams and they all made commendable efforts for the success of this drive. The teams during the door-to-door activity ensured that every child is administered polio drops. The Health department Punjab and World Health Organisation had deployed internal supervisors and external monitors for multi-level monitoring at various levels.
Health department had a target of 14,83,072 and this drive has been able to achieve 96.03 per cent of its set target and health officials have been instructed to immunise the remaining children by visiting the houses. The house-to-house mop-up rounds will continue for up to five days to identify and vaccinate children who missed getting vaccinated during the drive. This drive was supported by technical partners and volunteers from WHO, Rotary and other civil society organizations.
It is worth mentioning that the district wise performance with regard to coverage of children is as follows, SBS Nagar 100 %, Fazilka 99.58 %, Tarn Taran 99.40 %, Shri Muktsar Sahib 98.74 %, Bathinda 97.53 %, Pathankot 96.82 %, Moga 95.47 %, Amritsar 94.41 %, Faridkot 94.14 %, Shri Fatehgarh sahib 94.06, Patiala 92.66%, and Mansa 92.63 %.
